Features

As the School of Journalism anticipates its centennial in 2008, its future looks bright with a new building, new programs and updated curricula. But the field of public affairs journalism itself has hit on hard times.

In the following excerpt from the introduction to What Good Is Journalism? How Reporters and Editors Are Saving America’s Way of Life(University of Missouri Press, 2007), editors George Kennedy and Daryl Moen articulate the roles of journalism in a democracy.

The number of Americans with type 2 diabetes swelled by 80 percent over the past decade, threatening to lower the average life expectancy for the first time in more than a century. MU doctors and researchers are attacking the problem from several angles, hoping to reverse the trend.

Camp Hickory Hill, a wooded 77-acre spread five miles northwest of Columbia, contains both a cave with nesting bats and a building called the “Blood Shed.” But the facility is not a training ground for budding vampires. It’s a summer camp where diabetic children can be safe while fishing, hiking and playing games.